Geology of the Uranium Deposits of the Lukachukai Mountains Area Apache County, Arizona Page: 1
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RME-118
GEOLOGY OF THE URANIUM DEPOSITS
OF THE LUKACHUKAI MOUNTAINS,
APACHE COUNTY, ARIZONA
ABSTRACT
In a study of the comparative importance of sedimentary and tectonic
ore controls and in search of data bearing on the origin of the
deposits, ten mines in the Lukachukai Mountains, Apache County,
Arizona were examined in detail. All commercial deposits in
the area are in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation
of Jurassic age. The ore bodies are elongate and horizontally
lenticular in shape and consist of one or more ore pockets surrounded
or separated by protore. The composite length of ore bodies consis-
ting of two or more ore pockets separated by subore grade material
ranges up to 1,100 feet; individual ore pockets range up to 350
feet in length. Elongation is usually at least three times the width
and is parallel to paleostream depositional trends measured in and
near the ore bodies. Claystone and/or siltstone units nearly
always underlie and frequently overlie the host sandstone units.
Ore occurs most frequently in trough-type, cross-stratified sandstone
which fills scours and channels in the underlying claystone units.
Lithofacies maps and mine mapping show that ore bodies are restricted
to areas of rapid lateral color change which in general are also
areas of rapid change in the ratio of mudstone to sandstone. Most
ore bodies are located on the southwest flank of the Chuska syncline
within a broad belt which trends nearly north-south across the
southeast end of the Lukachukai Mountains. It is suggested that
a set of shear joints served as vertical channelways for the distribu-
tion of migrating uraniferous ground water. Location of the ore
belt is apparently controlled by the intersection of these shear
joints and particularly favorable facies of the Salt Wash Member.- 1 -
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Nestler, Ronald K. & Chenoweth, William L. Geology of the Uranium Deposits of the Lukachukai Mountains Area Apache County, Arizona, report, September 1958; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc784417/m1/4/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.